Spanish Civil War: the Battle of the Ebro

This is the second part of Chris Bambery's MHM Special on the Spanish Civil War. Read the first part here. On the evening of 24 July 1938, Spanish Republican troops, joined by foreign volunteers of the International Brigades, found themselves creeping in the dark through mud and reeds towards the banks of the Ebro (Ebre in Catalan), the mighty river that flows through Catalonia in a south-easterly direction towards the Mediterranean. They were part of an offensive which involved about 80,000 men on the Republican side, and ranged from Xerta, about 50 kilometres inland from the river’s mouth, to Fayón, another 80 kilometres upstream. The attackers achieved complete surprise – a rem